Identify illegal migrants fast: HC

The Delhi High Court has directed the Centre to ensure that illegal Bangladeshi migrants are not included in the electoral roll of the national Capital and steps for identifying them to be expedited.

The court also issued notice to Foreigners Regional Registration Officer (FRRO) to file its response by March 26 on a pending petition alleging that over five lakh illegal migrants, particularly Bangladeshis, have been included in the voters list of various constituencies in the Capital.

The Election Commission informed the court about the steps taken by it on the issue and said that more than 43,000 such names have already been deleted from the voters list.

Further, it referred to its earlier affidavit in which it had said that around 32,000 names were deleted from the voters list till January 2006.

The court was hearing on January 23 a PIL filed by a state BJP leader Ved Vyas Mahajan seeking direction to the Election Commission to carry out revision of the electoral roll of all the constituencies in the capital in order to remove the names of illegal Bangladeshi migrants from the voters list.

The court has been seized of another PIL on the issue of illegal Bangladeshi migrants in which it was alleged that they have become burden on the civic amenities of the Capital and citizens of the country were deprived of their fundamental rights at the cost of illegal migrants.

The court has been monitoring several contentious issues connected with the menace of the illegal Bangladeshis and the Delhi Police has been periodically apprising it about the steps taken to deport them.

The authorities were also directed to take all possible precautionary steps before issuing ration cards and voter identity cards.